[LUAU] Thoughts...

[Jimen Ching]

On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Chris Wong wrote:
> RMS really missed the boat on this one. Then again, he would've scared
> off businesses pretty early on. Something about his hands acting up or
> something.

I don't know.  It depends on the goal of HURD and the goal of Linux.  HURD
is nothing like Linux, so one can't say they are competitors.  So
'missing the boat' is not an issue.  As for scaring off businesses, you
mean companies with proprietary software, don't you?  The GPL does that
nicely, without RMS.  I don't see Cygnus, Cyclic, and a whole bunch of
other 'businesses' being scared off.  They are doing business exactly the
way RMS described in the Manifesto.

> On Tue, 2 Mar 1999 bbraun at sparcy.synack.net wrote:
> >  Yup, linux is no longer for the developers. 
> Yeah. NOticed that today with all the LinuxWorld stuff. IT's becoming
> mainstream.

I don't know where you two are coming from.  This statement makes it sound
like mainstream OS's don't get developed.  I always thought they were
orthogonal.  Also, I assume when you say _developers_ you mean _OS
developers_.

As for big business doing a Linux fork, this will only happen if there is
no cooperation between the kernel developers and the commercial company.  
I don't think this will happen.  Of course, I'm assuming that development
paths like RTLinux, MKlinux, i8086 Linux, are _not_ forks.  If you have a
different definition, then all bets are off.

As for the GPL vs. BSD debate, let me submit an excercise.  Think about
how you want to view software.  For me, I view software like doctors view
surgical techniques.  I would not want to live in a world were a doctor
can patent/license a new heart surgery technique.  For doctors, this
knowledge is shared, ie. taught by the doctor who developed it.  She is
paid well to travel the world and show other doctors how to perform this
procedure.

If you look at any _professional_ society, you'll see that this type of
knowledge is treated the same, ie. lawyers, architects, engineers, etc.  
As a computer _professional_ I too have this view, except, instead of
knowledge of a technique or procedure, I have this view of software.  If
this is the type of view you have of software, then the GPL is the best
means to achieve this ideal in the _real world_.  If you can think of a
better way to achieve this ideal, then please let us all know about it,
especially RMS and ESR.

On the other hand, if you believe that knowledge and software should be
owned/patented/licensed, as some do believe, then the BSD (and friends)
license is what you want.  Note, I'm not saying BSDL encourages this kind
of treatment of software.  But it does nothing to discourage it.  I don't
know how professional societies prevent this type of ownership from
occuring, but the computer science industry needs this thing, and right
now, this thing is the GPL.

As for the so called _moral_ issue.  I don't know how RMS picked that out
of the air.  This is not a moral issue.  There's nothing wrong with
believing that you have the right to own knowledge.  But don't expect
everyone to abide by your rules.

A final note.  There is not debate here, no flame war, no arguments.  If
you believe the same as I do, and you can't come up with something better
than the GPL, then you must accept the GPL.  I don't agree with the GPL
100%, but I still support it because I don't have a better solution.  If
you disagree with my view of software, then that's that.  What else is
there to say?

Sorry for getting on this soapbox.  I see too many debates and flame wars
about these license issues, and the people involved don't seem to
understand the basic concept behind the licenses.  If you don't agree with
the goals and ideals, then obviously you won't like the means used to
achieve those goals.

--jc
--
Jimen Ching (WH6BRR)      jching at flex.com     wh6brr at uhm.ampr.org


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